This is a bit of a cheat ...

While fossicking through the box in which I keep bits of stuff for stamp carving I came across this. It reminded me of something.

So today's stamp combines old and new, and demonstrates the staying power of that daisy image. Six hundred years plus.

This is my favourite. I like the rather ethereal result of the imperfect stamping. I think this would look great on a sheer, with just a little stitch, carefully done so it's reversible.

Mmm - I'm not good at 'carefully done'.

I have also made a slip to add to the orange book cover. I was thinking of using set stitches on some net and weaving it - my mind is running on flame and grids after photographing the altar cloth in St Laurence's chapel in Salisbury Cathedral. But I came across another sort of embroidery on another sort of net, in a book by Val Campbell-Harding and Pam Watts. This is the result.

And this is the raw material. Never throw anything away ...

The softer looser more fabric-like net [an orange bag - er - a bag that used to contain oranges] was easier to embroider, providing it was tightly hooped. If not the machine ate it.

My machine was less happy with the more plasticky net [not sure what it used to contain] and I found it difficult to see where the crossing points in the net were to FME round them.

But it was fun doing it and the result is on the book which is sitting under my 'book press' to flatten out. I hope to show you tomorrow.